[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 49 (Monday, March 31, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E444]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   COMMENDING THE IMMIGRANT AND HIS CONTRIBUTION TO NEW YORK CITY'S 
                                VIBRANCY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CHARLES B. RANGEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 31, 2008

  Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my delight that 
immigrants have carved out a sacrosanct place in the American story and 
accordingly introduce a New York Daily News piece showcasing that 
contribution. The vivacity and freshness that come with a heavy 
immigrant population has been a defining characteristic of New York 
City--and we have been the better for it. We define ourselves as a city 
of immigrants and recognize the importance of the Statue of Liberty as 
a symbol of what has helped make our city great. We live immersed in a 
potpourri of culture, all components distinctly American but each with 
flair and a kaleidoscopic beauty.
  Our children have benefitted most from this variety, learning not 
just from their teachers, but from a diverse cast of neighbors and 
peers. The February 14 article--``Immigrants' Stories Not Foreign to 
Kids''--narrates the story of a New York classroom filled with 
Americans, through and through, all with ancestral ties to foreign 
nations. This newest generation will inherit this country far better 
equipped to be citizens of the world than generations before them. They 
are bound by a fervid love and allegiance to America, their home, 
married with a sensitivity and respect for our global neighbors.
  It is a good day in America when our commonalities bind us, and our 
differences bring us that much closer.

                Immigrants' Stories Not Foreign To Kids

       It's a wonder immigrants in the U.S. haven't been blamed 
     for global warming. After all, from the crumbling economy to 
     increases in crime, they've been accused of just about every 
     other of society's ills.
       Which is why walking on Tuesday into teachers Joe Briscat 
     and Kristen Grolimund's fourth-grade class at Public School 
     199 in Long Island City was so uplifting. Their students are 
     lively, smart, curious and diverse, everything you would 
     expect from New York kids. And as it can happen only in this 
     city, particularly in Queens, they--or their parents--come 
     from 11 different countries.
       ``Raise your hand if your parents came from a foreign 
     country,'' the group of 24 9- and 10-year-olds was asked. All 
     the students did.
       There was Anita, a self-assured 9-year-old with big green 
     eyes who wants to be a doctor. A Muslim, she was wearing a 
     beautiful gold head scarf.
       ``My parents are from Yugoslavia, but I was born here. I am 
     a citizen,'' she said proudly.
       And there was Angel, also 9, with a ready smile and 
     mischievous eyes, who wants to grow up to be a pilot. He came 
     from Mexico with his parents, as did Maura, who is tall for 
     her 9 years and very shy.
       ``I want to be a teacher,'' she said.
       Tenzin, 9, was born in Tibet and was not shy at all. And 
     Shrabonti, 10, arrived in New York from Bangladesh and is 
     proud of her good grades.
       ``I love school,'' she said.
       That's why ``A City of Immigrants--Dreams and Realities of 
     Life in New York, 1840-2007,'' the history course Briscat and 
     Grolimund are teaching, is so appropriate. For these kids, 
     history is more than learning about events that took place 
     many years before they were born.
       For them, the history of New York is their own and that of 
     their parents; it is the struggle and the hopes and dreams of 
     people like themselves who make our city vibrant and alive 
     and unique.
       ``Immigration has defined the history of New York City,'' 
     reads the introduction to the curriculum of ``A City of 
     Immigrants,'' which was developed by the LaGuardia and Wagner 
     Archives of LaGuardia Community College.
       This became even more evident for the students on Tuesday, 
     when three of the people they had been studying in class--all 
     of whom have their immigrant experiences chronicled in the 
     fourth-grade curriculum of ``A City of Immigrants''--came to 
     visit them.
       Esther Levine, born in 1919, was the daughter of Morris 
     Levine, one of millions of Eastern European Jews who fled 
     religious persecution from the 1880s through the 1920s.
       She told the children about her father, who became a 
     traveling salesman, about Dora, her mother, and their life on 
     Essex St. on a very different lower East Side of Manhattan.
       Juan Rodriguez, a graphic designer at LaGuardia, a 
     Dominican immigrant in his mid-30s, dreamed of being a 
     baseball player. The kids were fascinated by his tale of 
     playing pelota with a glove made from cardboard in his native 
     country when he was about their age.
       Fern Kahn, a former associate dean at LaGuardia, told the 
     children about her life in New York in the 1950s, when she 
     arrived from Jamaica to study at NYU. But it was when she 
     spoke about her native country, and how she kept close ties 
     with its culture, that the children could not stop asking 
     questions.
       ``Many fourth- and fifth-graders, especially those in 
     public schools in Queens, are members of these ethnic 
     groups,'' said Richard Lieberman, the archives director. ``By 
     inviting Fern, Juan and Esther to speak to the class, the 
     children will gain an understanding of their own place in 
     history and the important role they play in American 
     society.''
       They, these diverse New York children, will be the doctors, 
     pilots and teachers of the future. And they will keep writing 
     the history of our vibrant and unique city, which is, after 
     all is said and done, their own story.

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